Galloway...

So I went to Bellevue this evening to hear Jeff Galloway speak. I was a little nervous beforehand, not knowing what to expect. I read his "Marathon" book when we first started running and we followed his training plan for a while (though found the Penguin more our style.)

There were 50 or so people there, Jeff was compelling and friendly, and people asked good questions. Of course, I didn't get around to asking about motivation... I think most people there were motivated, whether they were running their 10th marathon or just starting a C25K program.

A few things I thought were helpful:
• Jeff talks about the "lizard brain" - which just protects us, and tries to get us to stop when it feels under stress - and the "human brain" - which can override the lizard brain if needed. Running causes stress, so the lizard brain sends messages that tell us to slow down, that it's too hard, etc. So we need to consciously override it with our human brain. Or something.
• He pointed out that, as children, we're told we are failures if we take a walk break. We keep thinking that after growing up, so people feel bad about walking. When it really just causes less stress on the body.
• We were given free rein to eat sugar during our long runs. "Sugar cubes, gummy bears, hard candy. Simple sugar to feed your brain." A former Olympian just told me that sugar feeds my brain. Woot!

Then the new program director (coordinator?) of the "Seattle" program got up and talked about her belief in the Galloway method... even though she just started running 4 weeks ago. But she was enthusiastic and friendly. Still, it sounds as if most of the runs will be on the east side -- not very Seattle, really! -- so it's probably not the group for me.

Afterwards I bought Galloway's latest book, called "Mental Training for Runners: How to Stay Motivated" -- because it seemed a bit serendipitous. We chatted while he signed it ("Stay Positive, Sunny!") but he refused to divulge the location/theme/anything, really about the new secret Disney race. He did say that "it's in a new location". Wil guessed that it will be a cruise marathon, like the Penguin's. Who knows.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to reading the book; hopefully I will be inspired!